One Summer Evening - One Summer Evening Part 52
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One Summer Evening Part 52

"Mom?"

"What, sweetie?"

"Is ... is that man really my dad?"

Blind panic rendered her speechless for a moment while she groped to find the right words to answer him.

Before they came to mind, Tyler went on.

"I don't care if he is, I don't like him."

"Why is that?" she asked carefully, feeling as though she were holding a

lighted stick of dynamite in her hand.

Tyler shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Well, it's okay. You don't have to like him. And you don't have to seehim, either, if you don't want to."

"You won't be mad at me?"

"Of course not, darling. Look, Lester doesn't think like we do. He has nothing in common with us."

"What about Papa? I think he likes him."

A spurt of anger shot through Cassie, but again she had to tread lightly.

"You know how Papa is, being a preacher and all. He always thinks the

best of everyone, regardless." She paused.

"But you let me worry about Papa, okay?"

"Okay." Tyler was quiet for a moment, then added, "I wish I had a daddy

like Austin."

Oh, dear Lord, Cassie thought, what next? How many blows to the heart

could one take and survive? She didn't know, but she was close to her limit.

"He can be your friend," she said in a shaky voice.

"Mom?"

"Huh?"

"We don't have to go away, do we?" Suddenly his chin began to quiver.

"I don't know," she said honestly.

He didn't say anything, just lowered his head and dug the toe of his

shoe into the carpet.

"Come here," she whispered.

"I need a hug."

He ran into her arms, and for a few precious seconds, she held him

tightly.

Then he scrambled out of her arms and looked at her.

"It's going to be all right, I promise."

As if that was all the reassurance he needed, Tyler threw his arms

around her one more time. After pulling back, he said, "I gotta go.

Papa's in the lobby waiting for me."

"Since you have a ride home, I'm going to stay and work a while longer."

"Okay, bye."

Like a small whirlwind, he was out the door and gone.

Cassie made it to the nearest chair, sat down, leaned her head backagainst the cushion and let the tears flow. She had earned them, shetold herself, giving in to the intense pain, the doubling-over kind, thekind she'd experienced so many times when it came to Lester and hisrelationship with Tyler.

Unwittingly, another incident jumped to mind, even more traumatic thanyesterday's episode. It had happened after the divorce had become final.

She had just put Tyler down for bed and walked back into the livingroom, only to halt abruptly. Lester had been leaning against the mantel.

"You have no right to be here," she had managed to say through stiff,white lips.

"It doesn't matter," he'd responded with an easy grin.

"Get out now, or I'll call the police."

His eyes darkened with hatred.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."

"You can't tell me what to do. In case you've forgotten, we'redivorced."

"That was a mistake. When you offered me money in exchange for yourfreedom and Tyler's, you caught me at a weak moment."

"Well, that's too bad. The divorce and its terms are a done deal, so getout."

"I want my son, Cassie."

"Dammit, he's not your son!" She darted to the phone, picked it up andshook it at him.

"If you don't leave right now, I'm calling the law. Count on it."

Two long strides put Lester within touching distance of her, hisnostrils flared. She backed up, but there was nowhere to go. The wallstopped her.

"I'll leave," he said in her face, "but I'll come back. And when I do,I'll take Tyler with me." He paused and ran one finger down a cheek.

"And there won't be anything you can do about it."

He had been wrong. She had done something. She had taken her child andfied. But now her nemesis was back, as dangerous as before.

Cassie stood and wiped the tears from her eyes. Too bad she couldn'twipe away her soul-pain as easily. There were no words in the dictionaryto describe that feeling.

This evening the terror associated with it was stomach-churning andproduced the urge to bolt, to run away again, to try somehow to squirmout from under the agony. But there was no escape.

The key was survival.

But how? And at what cost? The choices she had to make sapped her

energy, making her wish she was a screamer. Instead, more silent tears trickled unchecked down her face.

Fear.

That was the worst component of the pain--the fear that her child would

be harmed. That fear was so overwhelming, so like an incurable disease,

that her mind couldn't take it in.

But to seize Tyler and run again was not an option, not after her session with him. She couldn't do that to him. She wouldn't.

What she would do was stay and fight Lester. Suddenly Austin's face popped into her mind. If only. No, she wouldn't think about him, about how much she ached to lean on his strength.

A tap on the door gave her a start. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, then said, "Yes?"

The door opened, and Austin walked in. Her eyes rounded.

"How did you" -- "How did I what?" he asked in a soft voice, his eyes narrowing on her face.

"Uh, nothing," she said, a warm feeling seeping through her.

Their eyes met and held for a moment, then she looked away.

"Cassie, I know you've been crying." His voice sounded raspy.

"You don't have to hide from me."

She faced him again, licking her bottom lip with her tongue. She saw his

eyes follow the small movement before she asked, "What brings you here?"